The story begins when Karana, gathering roots with her
brother, Ramo, first sighted an Aleut ship heading toward the island where she
lived with the rest of the Ghalas-at Indians. Soon the men and women of the island
headed toward where the ship would land, toward Coral Cove. The men carried weapons.
Soon, a small boat was lowered from the ship. Aleut men with black hair and bone
ornaments in their noses rowed the boat. Directing them was a Russian with a yellow
beard.. They soon heard that his name was Captain Orlov. Karana's father, Chief
Chowig, also introduced himself. There was consternation among the islanders because
their chief had told the foreigner his secret name. They knew that could weaken
their chief. The captain and the chief discussed the plans of the new arrivals.
They were there to hunt sea otters. The islanders had had bad experience in the
past with sea otter hunters. At first the captain wanted two thirds for himself
and his hunters, but finally he agreed to split half and half.

Notes

It is difficult to understand what half and half meant. What the
islanders were to receive was to be in the form of goods, not sea otter skins.
How much goods equaled how many skins? We are not told.

At the end of
chapter 4, the subject of Chief Chowig’s secret name returns. The topic of secret
names is revisited in chapter 22, when Karana makes a decision regarding whether
or not to give her secret name.

The Aleuts came from the Aleutian Islands
which are located off of Alaska. The Russians used them because they were good
hunters.

If you have access to a computer, you can search for web sites
that have much information about the Aleutian Islands and the history of the Aleuts.

Your browser does not support the IFRAME tag.

CHAPTER
2

Summary

Chief Chowig warned the villagers to not
socialize with the Aleuts. The villagers did as their chief told them. But, they
did watch the Aleuts from afar. And, all activity was reported back to the group.
The Aleuts also observed the Ghalas-at.

Ulape, Karana' sister, reported
that there was a girl with the Aleuts. The girl dressed like the men and she kept
her long hair under her cap. No one believed this.

One day Ulape discovered
that a school of large white bass had been stranded on a rocky ledge. There was
enough for everyone to feast on for two days. The second day, two Aleuts came
to the village wanting to share the abundance. Karana's father decided not to
share with them. They were capable of doing their own fishing, Chief Chowig rationalized.
The two left, planning to tell Captain Orlov. They were not happy.

Notes

The Aleuts who came to ask for a share of bass only numbered two.
But, there were many more at the ship who also would be unhappy.

CHAPTER
3

Summary

This chapter describes the hunt for sea
otters. Karana thought of the otters as her friends and did not like the idea
of trading their lives for things, even for beautiful or useful things.

The chief told Karana that soon the hunters would be leaving. He had some of the
young men staying near the ship on the pretense of building a canoe. There were
others watching the ship and the hunters from a longer distance also. Karana's
little brother, Ramo, saw the ship captain having his beard trimmed. Everyone
waited and wondered when they would leave and whether there would be trouble.